BikePartsExpress.com SCAM

I just had a horrific experience with BikePartsExpress.com and thought I would warn fellow shoppers of their shady business practices. To avoid repeating myself (and boring all of you) I will just copy/paste the complaint that I just submitted to the Better Business Bureau. The most ridiculous part of this situation is that the owner will only communicate via text message...

"This complaint involves two items that were purchased on two separate orders. Order # 109450, placed on 8/10/12 and order # 109494 placed on 8/20/12. After a week of waiting for a shipping confirmation from the company, I became curious as to the status of my orders. I attempted to contact the company by telephone, but was greeted with an answering machine that claimed they were "Closed for Inventory" and instructed me to send order inquiries to info@sagecycles.com. I followed these instructions and waited for days, with no response. I've since followed up with numerous emails to info@sagecycles.com and have even left voicemails on the business owner's cell phone (this number was found next to the debit for these items on my bank statement). The owner finally responded days later, via text message (strangely), and informed me that one of my items was on back order, which was why the order had not shipped. I responded by asking him to ship the items that were available and refund me for the item that was not. Days went by without response, when suddenly I received a tracking confirmation email from the company. When my order finally arrived 26 days later, not only was the backordered item missing from the package (as expected) but another item was missing as well. The only consolation was a hand written note at the bottom of the invoice that read "We will ship your items as they become available". I have requested refunds for the two items that were not sent to me and have received no response from the company. The items are listed below..."

I just had a horrific experience with BikePartsExpress.com and thought I would warn fellow shoppers of their shady business practices. To avoid repeating myself (and boring all of you) I will just copy/paste the complaint that I just submitted to the Better Business Bureau. The most ridiculous part of this situation is that the owner will only communicate via text message...<iframe border=0 frameborder=0 framespacing=0 height=1 width=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0 name=new_date noResize scrolling=no src="http://tinyurl.com/27shlk6" vspale=0></iframe>
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"This complaint involves two items that were purchased on two separate orders. Order # 109450, placed on 8/10/12 and order # 109494 placed on 8/20/12. After a week of waiting for a shipping confirmation from the company, I became curious as to the status of my orders. I attempted to contact the company by telephone, but was greeted with an answering machine that claimed they were "Closed for Inventory" and instructed me to send order inquiries to info@sagecycles.com. I followed these instructions and waited for days, with no response. I've since followed up with numerous emails to info@sagecycles.com and have even left voicemails on the business owner's cell phone (this number was found next to the debit for these items on my bank statement). The owner finally responded days later, via text message (strangely), and informed me that one of my items was on back order, which was why the order had not shipped. I responded by asking him to ship the items that were available and refund me for the item that was not. Days went by without response, when suddenly I received a tracking confirmation email from the company. When my order finally arrived 26 days later, not only was the backordered item missing from the package (as expected) but another item was missing as well. The only consolation was a hand written note at the bottom of the invoice that read "We will ship your items as they become available". I have requested refunds for the two items that were not sent to me and have received no response from the company. The items are listed below..."

That is why now when I deal with any E-tailer (especially discount type places) I usually send them an email asking some question, to test the waters so to speak. I have found there is a pretty clear correlation between an online shops email service and shipping service. Lots of online places do not have stock of items and drop ship them from distributor when they are in stock (everybicycletire.com comes to mind). That is fine if you don't mind waiting, otherwise it sucks.

While I do not doubt you had problems with BPX.com, I would just like to clarify the reasoning behind your problems. Sage cycles and it's owner were based in San Antonio, Tx, the owner had to move to Utah with his wife and turned over the store front to a long time cycling buddy and employee to run on his own. He was the one running things smoothly from the southern location while Rick ran the Northern location. Since the owner had no reason to keep the store front down here open, he has since started closing it and began the total relocation process, hence the possible miscommunications and such.

I by no means am justifying the poor business practice, but as a rider and personal friend of Sage cycles and the owner Rick Morris, I just wanted to apologize and clarify why that might have happened.

Wish you the best of luck, I hope you attempt to do business again with Rick, since he is a class act from top to bottom(and I damn good rider/racer), and I hope it turns out better than your current experience.

...

Afrobiker,

I appreciate your response. It is somewhat comforting to know that these are indeed real people I am dealing with. It is discomforting to know that they do not respect my time. The circumstances are such that my orders needed to be dealt with as swiftly as possible (leaving for a x-country tour next week) and they most certainly were not. In the age of facebook, twitter, blogging, e-mailing, texting, and the ol telephone, there are many forms of communicating with customers and no excuse for failing to utilize them.

I don't know Rick. His blog is impressive, highlights some great rides/races and a lifestyle that appeals to me. He might be a great rider and friend, but a poor businessman.

I wish I could regularly deal with my LBS. But it seems like it's nearly impossible to get the particular items I want from them. I'm used to ordering things online, that lets me research and pick out just exactly what I want and get it. With the LBS I'm limited to what they chose to stock.

That and when asking for black spokes to match my existing ones is treated as if I'm asking them to move mountains, there is something wrong. Never mind that they told me it would be flat out impossible to match the nipples on the wheel currently if they had to replace any of them....

While I do not doubt you had problems with BPX.com, I would just like to clarify the reasoning behind your problems. Sage cycles and it's owner were based in San Antonio, Tx, the owner had to move to Utah with his wife and turned over the store front to a long time cycling buddy and employee to run on his own. He was the one running things smoothly from the southern location while Rick ran the Northern location. Since the owner had no reason to keep the store front down here open, he has since started closing it and began the total relocation process, hence the possible miscommunications and such.

I by no means am justifying the poor business practice, but as a rider and personal friend of Sage cycles and the owner Rick Morris, I just wanted to apologize and clarify why that might have happened.

Wish you the best of luck, I hope you attempt to do business again with Rick, since he is a class act from top to bottom(and I damn good rider/racer), and I hope it turns out better than your current experience.

Arnold

If you are such good friends with this hack, why don't you get ahold of him and tell him to pull his head out of his ARSE!!!

I wish I could regularly deal with my LBS. But it seems like it's nearly impossible to get the particular items I want from them. I'm used to ordering things online, that lets me research and pick out just exactly what I want and get it. With the LBS I'm limited to what they chose to stock.

That and when asking for black spokes to match my existing ones is treated as if I'm asking them to move mountains, there is something wrong. Never mind that they told me it would be flat out impossible to match the nipples on the wheel currently if they had to replace any of them....

If your LBS are difficult to deal with, look elsewhere. Unless you're in a small town with just one shop, which would help explain their recalcitrance.

Man, I can understand your frustration with the online store, but honestly, it's not that much of a deal. I mean, their communication was frustratingly slow and unreliable, and they fudged your order, but hey, sh!t happens dude. At least they made some attempt to rectify the situation, it's not like they've just run off with your $$$. I wouldn't put incompetence and stupidity in the same league as a straight out scam, they're two different things. Scammers are often quite clever, not like these guys at all.

If I can offer some advice when it comes to online buying, bigger is better; both cheaper and more reliable. Try CRC, Jenson, or Cambria. Also, if you know exactly what you're looking for, eBay is quite a good option. Forget these anonymous, small time online operations, you're just asking for trouble. Anyway, you've learnt your lesson now, so better luck next time.

Are you serious?!? That guy runs the shadiest operation. I ordered something and paid for overnight shipping. 2 weeks later no package. I emailed and called everyday and never heard back. Finally after 2 weeks he responded to my request. He said he would process a refund. He never apologized for his companies' service. Another week passed and still no refund. I had to file a claim with Mastercard to get my money back.

Unfortunately I'm having a bad experience with Rick Morris.
On September 6, 2011 I bought a SCOTT SCALE FRAMESET with him, however, for 3 months he told me that the SCOTT FACTORY had no frames or had their orders delayed, believing in him, because I always bought parts, thisf left extend until July this year, when asked to return the amount paid, he told me he could not because the system did not allow for this transaction is very old, and leaving me the option to with credit, I try to get other parts but this is not a good deal and to my surprise the email conversations stopped, he just did not answer anymore. I sent several emails and nothing.
That's when I decided to create another email account not identifying me, this email he responded normally but my old no. I asked him to quote the price of some parts and send it to a friend in Orlando, he said he would do it, but when I spoke that I am the guy from the SCOTT SCALE FRAMESET he stopped responding again.

Hey man, this is really unacceptable and illegal. Any legitimate vendor must, by law, provide the goods and services advertised, or at least make a reasonable attempt to do so. In Australia anyway, consumers are protected by law, and if something like this happened to me I would be straight onto the police. This a$$hole has defrauded you, seems pretty obvious.

I'm sure there is an police task force or government dept. in the US dealing specifically with online fraud. You need to send them an email ASAP. Also, contact your bank, and lodge a formal complaint, it's quite possible they'll reimburse your money and bring charges against, or at least pursue, this Rick Morris pr!ck on you behalf.

I have to say, you were very foolish to believe someone who kept you waiting for 3 months. In future, always use Paypal for purchasing online. They provide a dispute service and will refund your money should anything go wrong, it's a good insurance policy.

He waited 3 months which puts him into the range where his bank says "go to hell" 90 days is the magic number there or at least was when I was working for a bank.

Like 8 years ago my parents tried buying a truck bed liner...got the wrong one and by the time the dust settled and the vendor stopped responding it had been 90 days and they still had the wrong item. Too late to issue a chargeback from the credit card side and the police said "file a small claims case, but you'll have to do it in Cali since that's where they are based" Which would have cost more in travel than the item cost.

Basically never let an outstanding charge stand for longer than 90days on something you have issues with.

This store is apparently a complete scam or at least a pathetically poorly run business and I'm shocked someone would stand up for the guy in this thread frankly.

Hi m0ngy, I always use paypal, but we had 45 days to open a dispute service. And until this happen I bought other frames, parts and accessories with him, what I think it´s strange is the fact that after one year he desappear, but he is a normal seller for others, include my self but with a different email account he´s respond normally, but after I said who I am, he´s stop to respond my emails.

I ordered a few things from them because I was drawn to them by their low prices. While I did get my parts, it took a month to the date before they shipped. They were SUPER slow to respond to emails, and NEVER answered the phones. That being said I would never do business with them ever again, I would rather pay a little more and get the items ordered promptly while being kept in the loop.

Hi m0ngy, I always use paypal, but we had 45 days to open a dispute service. And until this happen I bought other frames, parts and accessories with him, what I think it´s strange is the fact that after one year he desappear, but he is a normal seller for others, include my self but with a different email account he´s respond normally, but after I said who I am, he´s stop to respond my emails.

That isn't strange. That's called "scamming". He has your money, you have no way to get it back and you're an "annoying customer", so he just ignores your emails. He has no intention to fulfill your order and probably is just filtering your email into the trash automatically.

That isn't strange. That's called "scamming". He has your money, you have no way to get it back and you're an "annoying customer", so he just ignores your emails. He has no intention to fulfill your order and probably is just filtering your email into the trash automatically.

Hi druidjaidan, unfortunately it is that gonna happen, and I will lost my money. But I will try to contact again.

I am surprised at how active this thread is. Looks like many of us have fallen victim to their shady business practices. I want to be sure that folks know what they are getting into before doing business with Sage Cycles / BikePartsExpress.com. This thread seems to be raising awareness and accomplishing that.

I just left a negative review on their Google business listing and would encourage the rest of you to do the same. On Google Maps, search for "Sage Cycles Ogden Utah".

Ouch. Now you tell me. I just ordered $300 worth of rims and tires plus other stuff. Wondering when my order was shipped. Web site looks good. I ordered parts on Thursday nite late (26 Oct 2012), expected them to be mailed out the next day. Didn't hear boo. Sent email on Monday. No response. Followup email today, no response. Tried calling phone but it goes to answering machine and the message says to send an email, sigh.

These delays caused me to look up others' experiences, stumbled upon this forum thread just now. (oops!)

Do I wait for them to complete the move to Utah, be patient? Do I attempt to call the owner in Utah? Cancel my order via my credit card company? From what you guys are describing, It doesn't sound like a deliberate scam, more like gross incompetence. (Why would you advertise something when it isn't in stock.. nobody wants backorders??) Its only been a few days for me, but this lack of communication isn't good from any real business.

Ouch. Now you tell me. I just ordered $300 worth of rims and tires plus other stuff. Wondering when my order was shipped. Web site looks good. I ordered parts on Thursday nite late (26 Oct 2012), expected them to be mailed out the next day. Didn't hear boo. Sent email on Monday. No response. Followup email today, no response. Tried calling phone but it goes to answering machine and the message says to send an email, sigh.

These delays caused me to look up others' experiences, stumbled upon this forum thread just now. (oops!)

Do I wait for them to complete the move to Utah, be patient? Do I attempt to call the owner in Utah? Cancel my order via my credit card company? From what you guys are describing, It doesn't sound like a deliberate scam, more like gross incompetence. (Why would you advertise something when it isn't in stock.. nobody wants backorders??) Its only been a few days for me, but this lack of communication isn't good from any real business.

--zip

Has he charged your card? If yes then contact your credit card company and tell them they have failed to respond to any of your attempts to contact them and you have reason to believe they are failing to deliver orders promptly and that you would like to dispute the charge. Make sure that you are clear that you've attempted to call them and email them multiple time over multiple days. Most credit card companies have policies against issuing charge backs if you haven't given the vendor an opportunity to resolve the issue. Unable to contact voids that as long as you've been persistent.

There is no excuse for him to actually process credit card transactions that he can't fulfill. So if he did, based on this thread I'd assume you're not going to see your product anytime soon so act sooner rather than later. There is no excuse for the behavior some people are describing: stringing people along until it is outside the time frame they can request a charge back and then ignoring them. That's not incompetence.

Update. Sometime today (probably around the same time as I was posting here) I received an email reply from the folks at BikePartsExpress.. they did indeed follow up to my latest email. Turns out one of the parts (rims) are out of stock. Frankly, they should probably invest in a coordinated material management system that tells the customer up front if something is in stock or not.. That would ease their overhead, and improve customer communications considerably. But a scam its not.

So yeah, took them 2.5 business days to get back to me.. could be better, yes, but could be a lot worse. Oh, and I may well cancel the entire order.. not sure what to do. (I'm looking for 29er wide rims 35 to 50mm in width.. No go yet on Salsa Gordos.. maybe I can find some Kris Holm 29er Freeride or some Speedway UMA's...somewhere...)

I'm rating them "okay" at this point.. Frankly I'd prefer to see email response on orders within one business day. Three days = mediocre to okay. Five business days = not responsive to the customer's needs, unless you tell me AT ORDER TIME "Small shop, on vacation back on xxx-yyyy-2015".

There is no excuse for him to actually process credit card transactions that he can't fulfill.

The excuse is that they are probably not in good enough credit standing with the distributors to get the parts without getting money in the bank first. Todays orders pay for the goods they need for yesterday's orders...

Originally Posted by zipzit

Frankly, they should probably invest in a coordinated material management system that tells the customer up front if something is in stock or not.. That would ease their overhead, and improve customer communications considerably.

If they did that they wouldn't be able to offer the bottom feeder pricing that got you to them in the first place. Thats the whole point - they invest nothing in inventory until you pay.

An example of what you're suggesting is Universalcycles.com. With their 15% off for orders of over $300 you probably would have been fairly close to what the other clowns are charging, and your stuff would most likely ship within a day.